the study of the effect of swimming endurance training and cadmium consumption on cardiac intrinsic markers of hypoxia and vascular endothelial growth in pregnant rats

the aim of this study was to examine the effect of swimming submaximal training and cadmium consumption on cardiac hif1-α and vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf) in pregnant rats. 32 pregnant wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: cadmium, swimming, cadmium+swimming and control. experimental groups performed the swimming protocol for 3 weeks, 5 sessions a week for 60 minutes per session. the cadmium administrated by cadmium chloride dissolved in water was consumed by cadmium and cadmium+ swimming groups. the levels of cardiac hif1-α and vegf were analyzed by eliza method. the results showed that cadmium administration alone and/or with swimming significantly increased hif1-α and vegf (p=0.001). swimming alone significantly decreased hif1-α while it significantly increased vegf (p=0.001). a combination of swimming and cadmium consumption decreased the cadmium effects on hif1-α (p=0.046) and vegf (p=0.002). so, cadmium consumption may abnormally raise cardiac hif1-α and vegf of pregnant rats and swimming training may balance cadmium effects and protect their hearts.